DeepSeek V3 vs Llama 3.1 70B Instruct
DeepSeek V3 (2024) and Llama 3.1 70B Instruct (2024) are compact production models from DeepSeek and AI at Meta. DeepSeek V3 ships a 64k-token context window, while Llama 3.1 70B Instruct ships a 128k-token context window. On HumanEval, DeepSeek V3 leads by 1.4 pts. On pricing, DeepSeek V3 costs $0.10/1M input tokens versus $0.40/1M for the alternative. This comparison covers specs, pricing, API access, capabilities, benchmarks, input and output token costs, and production fit for coding and agent workloads.
DeepSeek V3 is ~300% cheaper at $0.10/1M; pay for Llama 3.1 70B Instruct only for long-context analysis.
Decision scorecard
Local evidence first| Signal | DeepSeek V3 | Llama 3.1 70B Instruct |
|---|---|---|
| Best for | tool-calling agents and provider-routed production | provider-routed production |
| Decision fit | Coding, Agents, and Classification | Coding, RAG, and Long context |
| Context window | 64k | 128k |
| Cheapest output | $0.30/1M tokens | $0.40/1M tokens |
| Provider routes | 13 tracked | 13 tracked |
| Shared benchmarks | HumanEval leader | 3 shared |
Decision tradeoffs
- DeepSeek V3 holds a shared-benchmark lead on HumanEval, ahead by 1.4 points.
- DeepSeek V3 has the lower cheapest tracked output price at $0.30/1M tokens.
- DeepSeek V3 uniquely exposes JSON / Tool use in local model data.
- Local decision data tags DeepSeek V3 for Coding, Agents, and Classification.
- Llama 3.1 70B Instruct has the larger context window for long prompts, retrieval packs, or transcript analysis.
- Local decision data tags Llama 3.1 70B Instruct for Coding, RAG, and Long context.
Monthly cost at traffic
Estimate token spend from the cheapest tracked input and output route or tier on this page.
DeepSeek V3
$155
Cheapest tracked route/tier: Bitdeer AI
Llama 3.1 70B Instruct
$420
Cheapest tracked route/tier: Hyperbolic AI Inference
Estimated monthly gap: $265. Batch, cache, alternate speed tiers, and negotiated pricing are excluded from this local estimate.
Switch friction
- Provider overlap exists on Together AI, Fireworks AI, and NVIDIA NIM; start route-level A/B tests there.
- Llama 3.1 70B Instruct is $0.10/1M tokens higher on cheapest tracked output pricing, so quality gains need to justify the spend.
- Check replacement coverage for JSON / JSON / Tool use before moving production traffic.
- Provider overlap exists on DeepInfra, Fireworks AI, and Microsoft Foundry; start route-level A/B tests there.
- DeepSeek V3 is $0.10/1M tokens lower on cheapest tracked output pricing before cache, batch, or negotiated discounts.
- DeepSeek V3 adds JSON / JSON / Tool use in local capability data.
Specs
| Specification | ||
|---|---|---|
| Released | 2024-12-26 | 2024-07-23 |
| Context window | 64k | 128k |
| Parameters | 671B | 70B |
| Architecture | Mixture of Experts | Decoder Only |
| License | MITOSI-approved | Llama 3 Community |
| Openness | Open source | Open weights |
| Weights | Available | Available |
| Code | Unknown | Unknown |
| Commercial use | Commercial use: permitted | Commercial use: conditional |
| Knowledge cutoff | 2024-04 | 2023-12 |
Pricing and availability
| Pricing attribute | DeepSeek V3 | Llama 3.1 70B Instruct |
|---|---|---|
| Input price | $0.10/1M tokens | $0.40/1M tokens |
| Output price | $0.30/1M tokens | $0.40/1M tokens |
| Providers |
Capabilities
| Capability | DeepSeek V3 | Llama 3.1 70B Instruct |
|---|---|---|
| Vision | No | No |
| Multimodal | No | No |
| Reasoning | No | No |
| JSON / Tool use | Yes | No |
| Structured outputs | Yes | Yes |
| Code execution | No | No |
| IDE integration | No | No |
| Computer use | No | No |
| Parallel agents | No | No |
Benchmarks
| Benchmark | DeepSeek V3 | Llama 3.1 70B Instruct |
|---|---|---|
| HumanEval | 85.5 | 84.1 |
| Massive Multitask Language Understanding | 88.5 | 86.0 |
| HellaSwag | 95.7 | 94.2 |
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Last reviewed: 2026-07-11. Data sourced from public model cards and provider documentation.